Fashion Analysis in Hayao Miyazaki's Films
Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, manga artist, screenwriter, as well as co-founder of the very popular Studio Ghibli Studio. Some people may wonder, why would a Japanese animator speak so seriously about some current animations? The answer is this: Miyazaki has been a Japanese animator for decades and created the most touching and meaningful works.
His experience in the industry has been the base and inspiration for many animators, with his works, he has created a very distinctive humanist, pacifist and even environmental style. The beauty of his works is that he has taken very seriously the engagement between humans and the environment by observing everyday people.
In order to create something meaningful, this talented director engages with life, and personalities. Besides the incredible and heartwarming plots, the creation of his characters is so meaningful and crucial to the story. But how does this relate to fashion? By observing people and incorporating his observations into his works, Miyazaki creates unique characters with unique personalities and fashion is very relevant to each character because the way a certain character is dressed, describes a lot about their personalities.
With a very creative approach, Miyazaki has created a fashion style for each of his characters and uses such garments as a way to tell us a part of the story through dressing, the outfits are even used as symbolism. Some of the characters whose way of dressing has been significant for their personality and even story development are Chihiro from “Spirited Away”, Arriety from “The Secret World of Arriety”, and last but not least, Sophie Hatter from “Howl’s Moving Castle”.
Chihiro, “Spirited Away”
Chihiro is the 10-year-old protagonist of Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. This young girl finds herself troubled by the sudden change in her life when she and her family move to a new town, the fear of change accompanies Chihiro at the very beginning of the story. Upon eating food from this strange place, Chihiro’s parents are turned into pigs and get trapped in this place which has turned out to be a bathhouse for passing spirits.
In order to save her parents and return home, Chihiro must find the courage to stay and work in this peculiar place and find a way to reverse the damage caused to her parents. The fashion style changes throughout the film, first Chihiro is dressed in regular everyday clothes: a striped shirt with pink shorts. There is nothing extravagant about her regular outfit but these clothes determine Chihiro’s possibility to return to her normal life.
While she is working at the peculiar bathhouse, her name is changed to Sen and she is given a uniform to symbolize her current situation: Being in a world much different than hers where she has to face her fear of change. Her normal clothes get taken from her and even hidden; in a scene of the film, a young boy named Haku who has watched for Chihiro ever since he has met her, hands her back her clothes and tells her to make sure to not lose the clothes that she arrived at this strange world with because these clothes will be the only way for her to return back home.
In one of the pockets, a small card with her real name “Chihiro” written on it which symbolizes that these clothes are part of her true self and her real world, and if she were to lose her clothes and forget her name, then her identity would be lost and she will be trapped in this world forever. Although these garments may seem unimportant at the beginning of the film, as the plot progresses it shows how crucial they become for Chihiro and her character development.
Arriety, “The Secret World of Arriety”
In this wholesome and emotional film, the main themes are love, friendship, strength and survival are the most important themes. The protagonist of this film is a 14-year-old tiny girl named Arriety. She and her family are called “Borrowers” because they live under the floorboards and gather items from regular humans that won't be missed or noticed such as tissues, cookies, sugar, etc.
Due to her coming of age, she accompanies her father on one of his travels to gather the priorly mentioned items and is accidentally seen by Shawn, a 14-year-old boy with critical heart disease. Their friendship progresses as they teach each other about the meaning of love and endurance. The garments Arriety uses throughout the movie are just two: the outfit she wears at home which is a light puffed skirted short dress.
The dress’s skirt color is a calm and warm beige while the upper part is a darker shade of the skirt but just as cozy. The second garment that is used by Arriety is very symbolic as well; it is a knee-high long vivid-sleeveless red dress, accompanied by brown boots to pull the look together. This dress is picked specifically by Arriety to wear on her mission with her father which symbolizes her coming of age and reaching a certain level of maturity. She switches between both dresses in different parts of the movie, however, the red dress is often more used by Arriety when it comes to moments where her courage and bravery are put to the test.
Sophie Hatter, “Howl’s Moving Castle”
Sophie is one of the main protagonists in the film. Being the elder sister, Sophie looks after her father’s hat shop to continue his legacy, choosing the hat shop over her own dreams. Her personality is very introverted and has very little confidence, many times in the movie she constantly mentions that she does not consider herself to be beautiful. After meeting a mysterious young man named Howl, her life takes a turn. A curse drastically changes her life once she is turned into a 90-year-old woman by one of Howl’s enemies.
In her path to break her own curse as well as Howl’s, she finds her own worth and realizes how beautiful and brave she really is. The garments picked for her in the movie are carefully chosen. She is seen wearing a green long-skirted dress, a blue dress, designed equally as green, and a yellow long-skirted dress seen at the end of the film.
The most important look in the film is Sophie’s blue dress which she uses for a huge majority of the film. The first time she is seen wearing this dress is after being turned old, as she is trying to find the bright side of the situation, she says: “At least my clothes suit me now” Though this comment may seem comical, it is quite important. Unlike her sisters, Sophie tends to dress more reserved and in designs that are not too striking which shows that her personality is of someone who does not want to stand out in a crowd.
While the dress does not have extremely flashy designs and can seem “plain” looking, this garment accompanies Sophie’s journey into her character development. I think the dress’s design is perfect for Sophie’s personality, it goes from being a simple dress that an elder person would wear and it soon turns into a very symbolic piece that is shaped and personalized by Sophie, rather than the dress shaping Sophie. The dress itself does not provide beauty for Sophie, instead, her beauty resonates in her dress.
Though the variation of clothing design in the films does not seem to have a broad range, the garments used are what is important to the characters, their designs, and their personal developments. These characters don't have to look any more extraordinary than normal people would because the beauty of Hayao Miyazaki’s works is that they are made from observing everyday people and creating stories from regular people.
Another meaningful attribute of having a selected range of garment design is the fact that the characters do not have to rely on their clothing to make them more beautiful or important, their clothing essentially becomes part of their character and it does not influence how a character develops, but rather the character influences and determines how important the garments will be for this specific characters.
The clothing doesn't determine their value, but the characters determine their clothing’s worth. This is something very important that I would hope more people in the fashion industry would take into consideration, what you wear does not determine your worth, who you are is what determines the worth of everything you have around you. As a fashion major, one of my biggest fears is to see people become too involved in what they wear to the point that they think that what they wear is what will give them worth. Fashion and our clothing can play a role in who we become, but it should not be the only factor that decides who we are.
After all, “It’s not really important what color your dress is, what matters is the heart inside.” - Kiki’s Delivery Service, Hayao Miyazaki.
